Stigma hinders efforts to combat leprosy in India

Manish Swarup

Published
2:15 pm EDT, Sunday, March 9, 2014

In this Feb. 5, 2014 photo, Leprosy-affected Jaffar Ali, 75, makes an effort to get up from his cot outside his house at a leper colony in New Delhi, India. Although India has made great strides against leprosy over the years, the stigma of the disease is as intractable as ever, hindering efforts to eliminate the disease entirely. Worldwide the number of new leprosy patients has dropped from around 10 million in 1991 to around 230,000 last year. Of these, 58 percent were to be found in India, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

In this Feb. 5, 2014 photo, Leprosy-affected Jaffar Ali, 75, makes an effort to get up from his cot outside his house at a leper colony in New Delhi, India. Although India has made great strides against leprosy

In this Feb. 5, 2014 photo, Leprosy-affected Jaffar Ali, 75, makes an effort to get up from his cot outside his house at a leper colony in New Delhi, India. Although India has made great strides against leprosy over the years, the stigma of the disease is as intractable as ever, hindering efforts to eliminate the disease entirely. Worldwide the number of new leprosy patients has dropped from around 10 million in 1991 to around 230,000 last year. Of these, 58 percent were to be found in India, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

In this Feb. 5, 2014 photo, Leprosy-affected Jaffar Ali, 75, makes an effort to get up from his cot outside his house at a leper colony in New Delhi, India. Although India has made great strides against leprosy

In this Feb. 5, 2014 photo, Leprosy-affected Jaffar Ali, 75, makes an effort to get up from his cot outside his house at a leper colony in New Delhi, India. Although India has made great strides against leprosy over the years, the stigma of the disease is as intractable as ever, hindering efforts to eliminate the disease entirely. Worldwide the number of new leprosy patients has dropped from around 10 million in 1991 to around 230,000 last year. Of these, 58 percent were to be found in India, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)